Still a Force: NHRA legend tops Funny Car qualifying in record run

His favorite distance, however, remains 1,000 feet. On an NHRA drag strip. In the finals, preferably, of the Funny Car division.

Ask Force to show his driver’s license if you want, but not his AARP card. He is far from retirement, proving it again Friday when he blazed into the provisional lead during qualifying at the Kansas Nationals.

Force broke two track records for Funny Car at Heartland Park Topeka by going 318.84 mph, with an elapsed time of 4.024 seconds. Qualifying was reduced to just one round because of rain, which forced officials to halt the Kansas Nationals around 7:30 p.m.

"We got a good race car for one run,’’ Force said. "I really don’t have a story. If I can run that for every run, we’re going to write the story for you. Otherwise, whatever I tell (the media), it’s going to turn upside down and I’ll really look stupid.’’

Of course, that did not stop the affable Force from covering all bases after his fast first run.

He spoke about experiences at different Topeka restaurants in the short time his racing family has been in town, including the steak his daughter Courtney ordered. Then too there was her visit to Schlotzsky’s, with the family running late to HPT on Friday.

In addition, Force credited The Topeka Capital-Journal for its coverage of the Kansas Nationals, but feigned irritation over the bold print used to reveal that he turned 65 earlier this month. He used that tale to divert into the search for new team sponsors, with Ford and Castrol both ending their agreements at the end of the season.

"I don’t want to let my age out, but since Topeka printed it in giant numbers …" Force said. "To run a machine like our’s it takes money, so we’re cutting deals and we’re going to piece it back together.

"But it’s good to be back here in Topeka. They always cover us in the newspaper. I’ve got a good hot rod right now. Let’s see if we can do it again.’’

That’s what you get with Force. Tangents that dovetail in every direction whenever he speaks.

Until he gets on the drag strip. Then, he powers a Funny Car down the straightaway like no one in history. He has won nine events just at Heartland Park, the all-time leader in any class, and is bidding for his 140th career win.

The dragster he will attempt to do it in, however, has run inconsistently. Force has gone winless in his Mustang since his season-opening triumph at the Circle K Winternationals in Pomona, Calif. The track record was his third of the season after breaking marks earlier at Pomona and Phoenix.

With ominous clouds looming at HPT, Force’s strong, early run seemed to be a good plan, since there was a strong likelihood qualifying would get shut down like it did. Yet that was not Force’s intention.

"That’s our problem,’’ he said. "We’re either fast, or we’re almost not in (the eliminations). But Jimmy (Prock, crew chief) is working on it. That’s what he does. He says, ‘If you look back on the last few races, we’ve only gotten a few runs and we screwed up the race before.’ Was he trying to run that fast? No. …

"We’ve got to learn strategy with this power curve this thing’s got. It’s like a woman, and we love ’em. When they don’t want to dance, there’s nothing we can do about it. Today, she wanted to dance, but that was only one run.’’

The three JFR Team members who race Funny Cars were among the top four first-round qualifiers. Courtney Force was second with an elapsed time of 4.078, while season points leader Robert Hight was fourth (4.091). Hight won his fourth race this season when he topped Courtney Force on Monday in the final of the Summit Racing Southern Nationals in Atlanta.

Sitting in third place following the opening qualifier was Alexis DeJoria, who races for Kalitta Motorsports. Her elapsed time was 4.082.

The previous Funny Car record at HPT for elapsed time (4.043 seconds) was set last year by Force during qualifying. The previous speed record (315.56 mph) was set by Cruz Pedregon in 2012.

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